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PWR

Sophie de Goede: 'We are peaking at the right time'

NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - JUNE 02: Sophie de Goede of Saracens is tackled by Helena Rowland of Loughborough Lightning during the Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby match between Loughborough Lightning and Saracens at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens on June 02, 2024 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Paul Harding/Getty Images)

There are busy seasons and then there is the type of season that Sophie de Goede is having, but the Saracens back-rower would not have it any other way with a Premiership Women’s Rugby [PWR] play-off semi-final the next thing on the horizon for this force of nature.

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The 24-year-old rejoined Saracens for a second stint at the club last summer and since then she has been playing regularly for them, has turned out for Canada on the HSBC SVNS circuit and has captained the national XVs squad to an amazing triumph in the recent Pacific Four Series [PAC 4].

It makes you tired just to think about it, but her energy levels are as high as ever as we reach the business end of the PWR campaign with Sarries getting ready to host Bristol Bears at the StoneX Stadium on Sunday in their last four tie.

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“Lots of sleep and lots of food,” De Goede replies, slightly tongue in cheek, when asked how she has got through this busiest of busy campaigns with three different teams.

“Seriously though I have a really good support system around me and in each environment I have been in this season everyone has been really understanding.

“For Saracens to allow me to go and play sevens and then PAC 4 shows how much they care about the individual people that play on this team.

“And then for Canada sevens and XVs to understand what I want to achieve here at the club has been great and I think everyone has worked well collaboratively and it has allowed me to have so many great opportunities this year.

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“It is always nice to look back and I have some great recent memories, but I am just trying to stay present and in the moment because there are some incredible opportunities ahead starting on Sunday.

“One of the things I always think about is trusting in my preparation. I have done so much work this season on that – and in previous seasons too – to make sure that I am ready for these types of moments and I just try to relax, enjoy the preparation and let the process take care of itself.

“At the end of the day, it is a rugby game, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but as long as I have prepared myself properly then I always feel good going into games.

“And I think a lot of that is to do with the culture within the Saracens organisation as a whole because it is very much around caring for people.

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“Yes, we want to win, but around here you get the sense that everyone cares about you and your family and that trickles down into the team and the way we play for each other.

“We have people from all over in the squad here that have come together and we genuinely care for each other and I just feel blessed to be surrounded by such great individuals on and off the pitch.”

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Having lost out to Exeter Chiefs in last year’s league semi-final before De Goede’s return, Saracens are not in the mood to fall at the same hurdle again. They go into the last four as Allianz Cup winners and have won their four regular season games post-Six Nations and PAC 4.

They finished second in the standings with Bristol third and, in the regular season, both won one game apiece against each other.

“After the win against Loughborough last weekend vibes are really high in the squad,” De Goede stated.

“There were a lot of changes for that game and it tested our depth and I think it showed the strength of our whole squad and, overall, we are feeling positive.

“There is a lot of excitement around going into this weekend.

“I feel we are peaking at the right time. We have had some good performances in the league of late while a lot of players are coming off having good Six Nations and PAC 4 performances with their countries and, while we were away, the girls who were back here at Saracens won the Allianz Cup.

“Everyone in the squad has been riding high as individual players and the way we have been able to come together as a group since those internationals has been really pleasing.

“We have clicked recently against Gloucester-Hartpury and then Loughborough and it has given us momentum heading into this semi.

“Bristol are a threat from anywhere on the pitch, they will look to play.

“If they can play from their own 22 they will, you always have to be alive to them and they have a lot of gifted individual players so there are lots of fires to put out across the pitch.

“They are a formidable side and we will have to bring our ‘A’ game at the weekend if we want to progress.”

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J
JW 15 minutes ago
'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

Well a) poor French results doesn’t seem to effect the situation much. In fact one of the reasons given for this selection policy is that the French don’t tune in for foreign rugby content on the other side of the world, at a time when theyre not having their vino. So who would know the results? And b) this is the crux of the matter, they are legally abided to play them as part of WRs tier 1 reciprocal tours programme. The only real choice for the SH team is to treat it the same, which is fine when teams are happy to do that, but the AB’s have a totally anthesis policy/mentality so would never use the games in the same way.


So alligned with b) the only real option is to complain to those in control. I suspect that’s why weve seen France reneging on the practice, and you can only be left to think that if they hadn’t reneged, WR would have done something more drastic about it. Which of course would mean not just telling them to bugger off when they want to tour, it’s no one playing them (from t1 at least) at all (assuming they have no interest in scheduling match’s outside the windows, like Ireland and NZ are doing).


Then of course that means no involvement of France in the Nations Championship. Which means they are automatically the last ranked team in 6N to qualify, so the actual worst team in 6N gets to compete in it, making a mockery of the promotion and relegation WR wanted to happen between T1 and T2 for qualifying purposes. Yup, b) is just something nobody wants to happen. Well done FFR and LNR for making the tour work instead (how well is yet to be seen).

111 Go to comments
T
Tom 1 hour ago
No definites, but which Wales players could still make Lions squad?

Williams, Faletau, Lake, Morgan are the only ones who have a chance. None of them are guaranteed but I'd imagine they'll pick Williams and Morgan who could get in on merit and will likely be favoured for inclusivity.


Williams is fighting it out with Ben White for 3rd slot behind JGP and Mitchell.

Morgan is up against JVDF, Earl, Curry, Curry, Willis for 4 flanker slots. Morgan is a fantastic player but a huge call to leave any of those boys at home given how much Wales struggled at the breakdown against England. He's by no means solely responsible for that but it will be fresh in the minds of the selectors. Given the amount of hybrid players emerging and the inclination for a 6-2 split, they may be able to find room for a 5th flanker in the squad. In which case may be Ben Curry who misses out or Willis might be excluded given we have such depth in the players who have chosen to play for clubs this side of the channel.


Lake and Faletau are good enough but I'd be surprised if Faletau gets picked over Conan and Lake would be up against Cowan-Dickie which I can't see happening. Blair Murray is probably 4th in the 15 pecking order behind Kinghorn, Heenan, Marcus Smith. He may be a better 15 than Smith but Smith brings versatility so would be ahead of him. Since Smith may go on tour as a 10/15 hybrid, they would already have 3 fullbacks in the squad so Murray won't make it, good player though.


Nicky Smith and Dafydd Jenkins clutching at straws.

3 Go to comments
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